AnimeNation Anime News Blog

The advertising obi found on copies of Yuria 100-shiki (Yuria Type 100) manga volume 10, which went on sale in Japan yesterday, announces that the risqué sci-fi romantic comedy will be getting a film adaptation. The announcement doesn’t clarify whether the adaptation will be live action or anime, nor whether it will be a movie, TV, or video project.

The best-selling manga by Shigemitsu Harada and Nobuto Hagio is the story of a hyper-intelligent female sex robot that decides to take up residence with a male college student.

Really, the only surprise here is how long it’s taken to get an adaptation announced.

Source: Anime News Network

An anonymous post on Japan’s 2channel message board also claims that a retailer solicitation has revealed development of an anime adaptation of Jinsei Kataoka and Kazuma Kondou’s dramatic sci-fi adventure manga series Deadman Wonderland. Reportedly the anime production will be formally announced to the public when it’s mentioned on the advertising obi found on copies of manga volume 6, scheduled for release in Japan on August 26.

Tokyopop will release its first English translated volume of Deadman Wonderland next February.

The series’ title refers to inmates in a Tokyo prison whose death sentence is carried out by a slow, steady transmission of poison into their bloodstream. The “deadmen” are forced to participate in gladiatorial combat to win antidote that prolongs their life. The manga stars 14-year old Ganta Igarashi, sentenced to death in Deadman Wonderland for a mass murder he didn’t commit.

Source: Anime News Network

An anonymous post on Japan’s 2channel message board claims that a retailer solicitation has revealed the development of an anime adaptation of Hotaru Odagiri’s boys-love manga series Uragiri wa Boku no Namae o Shitteiru (Betrayal Knows My Name). Reportedly the production will be formally announced to the public in the October issue of Monthly Asuka magazine, which goes on sale August 24. The ongoing “Uragiri” manga has been serialized in Asuka magazine since 2005.

Odagiri’s Only the Ring Finger Knows, Time Lag, and Invisible Boy manga series are published in English by Digital Manga.

Source: Anime News Network

While vague word of a second Kanokon anime series surfaced last month, it’s now been clarified that Kanokon ~Manatsu no Dai Shanikusai~ (Kanokon: Midsummer’s Great Carnival) will be a two episode OVA series. The first episode will hit DVD & BD on November 25. The second episode will follow on December 22.

Source: Moon Phase Diary

Shin-ei Animation has launched a web page for its eighth annual Sensou Douwa (Wartime Fable) TV movie, Aoi Hitomi no Onna no Ko no Ohanashi (Story of the Little Girl With Blue Eyes). The movie will tell the story of the prejudices faced by blue-eyed half-American schoolgirl Eiko who lives in a small village in the Tosa mountains during WWII. The special will premier on the TV Asahi network on August 13th.

Source: Moon Phase

Animate reports that the TBS network will air a “Shin Gekijouban Kara no Kyoukai Tokubetsu Bangumi -Zenshichi shou no Kiseki-” TV special on August 2nd. The special will summarize the Kara no Kyoukai movie series, preview the August 8th theatrical opening of the seventh & final movie, and premier a new trailer for the 7th movie.

Anime production studio Barnum Laboratory has announced that its second Hoshi ni Negai wo short CG anime film, Hoshi ni Negai wo: Fantastic Cat, will get late show theatrical screenings at the Cine Rivulu Ikebukuro Theater beginning August 29th. The short will stream on Yahoo Douga from August 3rd through 31st. It’ll be released on Blu-ray on September 1. The official page for the “Fantastic Cat” anime features a streaming trailer.

The Hoshi ni Negai wo: COLD BODY + WARM HEART short film was released on Blu-ray disc last December.

Source: Moon Phase

ICv2 has released its compiled lists of America’s best selling manga, shoujo manga, and shounen manga during second quarter 2009.

Compared to early 2009, D. Gray-Man & One Piece have been replaced in the top shounen manga category by Chibi Vampire & Haruhi Suzumiya. Similarly, since early 2009 Phantom Dream & Wallflower have fallen from the top ten shoujo titles, replaced by Wild Ones & Ouran High School Host Club. The only major change in America’s top ten most popular manga of all varieties since early 2009 is Bakugan Battle Brawlers falling from position 8 off the top 25 chart entirely, and Full Metal Alchemist, which didn’t break the top 25 earlier this year, charging back to rank 7th.

ICv2 reports that FUNimation’s second quarter 2009 sales were up about $1.9 million compared to the same period in 2008. FUNimation also took in a $1.75 million “agency fee” for its involvement in the transition of Dragon Ball video game rights from Atari to Namco Bandai. FUNimation’s profit contributed to parent company Navarre collecting nearly ten times the income in Q2 2009 that it earned in Q2 2008.

Question:
Why was Gurren Lagann not at all popular among children although it aired on Sunday mornings? Gundam 00 aired during Golden Time (primetime) and was popular among both otaku
and children, but children have not even heard of Gurren Lagann. Only the otaku watched it although it was not in a late night otaku timeslot.

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ADV Films affiliate licensor Sentai Filmworks has announced its acquisition of distribution rights to the Clannad After Story, He is My Master (Kore wa Watashi no Goshujin-sama), Ghost Hound (Shinrei Gari ~ Ghost Hound), Little Snow Fairy Sugar (Chicchana Yukitsukai Sugar), and Popotan anime TV series. All five titles will hit American DVD in October along with the live action Zombie Self-Defense Force and Fistful of Fuku, under the Switchblade Films label.

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Yahoo! Movies is now streaming the first five minutes of Madhouse’s eagerly anticipated new feature Summer Wars. The film reunites Girl Who Leapt Through Time director Mamoru Hosoda, screenwriter Satoko Okudera, and character designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto. Summer Wars opens theatrically on August 1.

Source: Anime News Network

In June, Bloody Disgusting reported that tentative Akira live action film(s) director Ruairi Robinson had left the project and the entire production was “dead as a doornail.” Last weekend film producer Andrew Lazar confirmed for iFMagazine that the film project doesn’t have a director, but, “It is a real priority project for Warner Bros. and so [the writers] are working on a draft.” Lazar further cautions, “Sometimes movies need an enormous amount of prep, like this one. It is not realistic to go before the third quarter of next year for a 2011 release.”

Japan’s Kagoshima prefecture will host the premiere of the 999-second long Ginga Tetsudo 999: Diamond Ring no Achira e (Galaxy Express 999: Towards the Diamond Ring) short movie on September 9, 2009 (9/9/09). The new short film is partially set in the Kagoshima region and is intended to promote local tourism by featuring the local Uchinoura Space Center and the region’s Kyushu Shinkansen (bullet train) line.

Iku Ishiguro directed the short film for Toei Animation. Veteran voice actors Masako Nozawa, Masako Ikeda, and Kaneta Kimotsuki again play their roles of Tetsuro, Maetel, and the 999 conductor, respectively. The short film was developed with assistance from the Young Astronauts Club – Japan, which is chaired by Galaxy Express 999 creator Leiji Matsumoto.

Source: Anime News Network

The official website for this winter’s tenth One Piece theatrical feature, One Piece Film: Strong World, has added the teaser trailer first screened publicly earlier this year. A second teaser trailer will go online on August 1. A full trailer will debut on August 8.

Unlike the previous nine films, this time around One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda is personally providing art design concepts and supervising the film’s development while One Piece television episode director Munehisa Sakai directs the movie. The film is scheduled for Japanese premiere on December 12.

Source: Anime News Network